Google Maps massively expands its mass transit crowd-reporting service
Today, Google announced a major expansion of its ability to warn users of crowded mass transit ahead of time. The feature originally launched in June 2019 and covered roughly 200 cities globally, using user-reported data similar to Waze to discover and predict overcrowded trains and buses. Google is expanding that 200-city initial rollout to (eventually) over 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries, according to today's announcement.
Unsurprisingly, Google Maps' mass transit predictions don't just rely on direct user-reported data. They utilize AI models trained on that data.
"We apply world-class anonymization technology and differential privacy techniques to Location History Data to make sure your data remains private and secure," the announcement declares-although we must point out that attempts to anonymize location data frequently fail.
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